London plans for ICMA

London plans for ICMA

PLANS are now firmly in place for the fifteenth International Congress of Maritime Arbitrators, which is being hosted by the London Maritime Arbitrators Association and will take place at London's Millennium Mayfair Hotel between April 26 and 30, 2004.

ICMA is the spiritual meeting place for maritime arbitrators. And London is the spiritual home of maritime arbitration. So the combination of the two should make for a memorable gathering. The portents are good.

ICMA XV will be opened by Lord Bingham of Cornhill, the Senior Law Lord. The Lord Mayor of London will host a reception at Mansion House on the first evening and, later in the week, a gala dinner at Guildhall will be addressed by Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, the Master of the Rolls. There will be a full programme for accompanying persons.

Papers for the congress are now being invited, covering all aspects of maritime arbitration. Those interested are asked first to prepare, by no later than October 31, 2003, an outline of no more than 250 words, and to email it in advance to Austin Dooley, chairman of the topics and agenda committee, at : dse...@ix.netcom.com

SMA turns forty

THE fundamental basis of our editorial policy is to promote the international nature of maritime law and arbitration. There are a number of maritime arbitration centres around the world which figure significantly in terms of both expertise and capacity. But London is the spiritual home of maritime arbitration, and London and New York are the two leading centres, and it is right that we should take a moment to acknowledge a forthcoming anniversary.

The Society of Maritime Arbitrators in New York has sent out invitations to its fortieth anniversary celebrations, to be held in New York on the evening of October 3. There will be music throughout the evening, as befits a celebration. Dress is black tie, which is appropriate at a time when the pundits are telling us that black is the new black.

Two-hundred guests have been invited to the celebrations at India House, one of the most atmospheric venues in downtown Manhattan. The SMA is an effective marriage of disparate talents. It deserves a good party. Forty years is a long time, longer than most marriages.

Subject matters

DOES nomination of a vessel to receivers automatically mean that subcharterers have approved the vessel? Not according to the US courts.

In a recent US case, the fixture was "subject subcharterers' approval." Head charterers nominated the ship to subcharterers who in turn nominated it to the receivers. But the receivers simply refused to respond, perhaps because they were dissatisfied with the freight rate. When the head charterers failed to lift subjects and advised they would not perform, owners sued for breach of charter, arguing that, by nominating the vessel to the receivers, the subcharterers had in fact approved it. The court, noting the absence of evidence of any conspiracy to block receivers' approval, dismissed the suit because the relayed nomination was only the start of subcharterers' process to approve the ship, and not the final approval.

As Michael Marks Cohen explains on page 10 of this issue, there are different attitudes to 'subjects' in different parts of the world. In London, a fixture 'subject details' is viewed as an agreement with open terms, which generally is not a contract at all. By contrast, in the US, such a fixture will be regarded as binding, and arbitration will often be ordered in a 'subject details' case. It is one of the great schisms in the maritime laws applied on opposite sides of the Atlantic, says Michael, who concludes, "Manifestly, close attention must be paid when the subject is subjects.

IMO gets its man

CONGRATULATIONS are in order for Efthimios Mitropoulos, who was recently elected to succeed the estimable Bill O'Neil as secretary-general of the International Maritime Organisation. Mitropoulos will need to be as sharp as paint to fill the boots of affable but widely respected Canadian O'Neil, whose reputation will continue to echo around the IMO building on the Albert Embankment for many years to come.

Something else that will continue to echo around that building is the footfall of Monica Mbanefo on its stairs. Mbanefo was one of two other candidates - Iceland's Magnus Johannesson was the other - who contested the leadership elections with Mitropoulos.

Mbanefo, a lawyer, is known at IMO as "the lady who always takes the stairs". It is not that she is afraid of lifts. She is just very fit, and wants to stay that way. And she saw fit after the election result to congratulate Mitropoulos on carrying the day. There is no shame in coming second.

The best man won. Now we all need to get behind him. Safe shipping demands a comprehensive safety culture that embraces vigilance in security matters and a proper sensitivity for environmental protection. That means that the work of IMO has never been more relevant than it is today.